Pre-war Preparations

The quiet meeting room held only Danzo and Sarutobi.

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at Danzo and asked, "Are you in such a hurry to go to the battlefield to die?"

"I've said it before, although my strength is greatly diminished now, I will not die on the battlefield!" Danzo was a little annoyed. This old guy's first words were cursing others to die; he really didn't know how to talk.

"I will have Kakashi and several other Jonin join you in the battle, and your safety will be the responsibility of the Anbu."

Taking a deep breath, Sarutobi Hiruzen finally made a concession. Now was really not the time for infighting.

Danzo frowned and refused, "Impossible! My safety will be the responsibility of Root."

Although he got the answer he wanted, who knew if the Anbu Sarutobi sent were there to monitor and undermine him.

"Your safety needs to be guaranteed! As the commander, if you have an accident on the battlefield, it will have a great impact on morale!" Sarutobi stared at him, insisting on his request.

"I said I won't die! I am very confident in this war!" Danzo said dissatisfied.

Why did this old guy always think he would die quickly?

"It's settled then. If you don't want the Anbu to protect you, then we'll change the commander," Sarutobi said. "I'll have Homura take your place."

Danzo glared at him, stood up, slammed the table, and roared, "The Daimyo only agreed to fight because I am the commander!"

"And the families in the village are all deploying troops because they support me!"

Sarutobi also stood up, not to be outdone, and said, "But I am the Hokage of Konoha!"

"I can also write to the Daimyo to withdraw your command, and my decision-making power is greater than yours in all matters of the village!"

For a moment, the thought of taking the Hokage position from this old guy's hands surged in Danzo's heart.

Not for power, but just to let this guy see the scene of his proud position being easily obtained by someone else.

"But they can't interfere with my choices!"

Frowning, looking at Sarutobi's serious appearance, Danzo also knew that this matter could not be refused, and the other party was acting for his own good, so he could only reply helplessly.

Sarutobi nodded in satisfaction and sat down again, saying, "They will only protect your safety."

With his goal achieved, Danzo didn't stay to look at the old guy's ugly face, said goodbye, and left directly.

Turning his head, the gloom on his face turned into a smile.

The war had been decided, and although the process was a bit tortuous, Danzo was in a good mood.

When he really got to the battlefield, if this old guy's Anbu dared to cause trouble for him, then his Root wouldn't be pushovers either.

It was already late at night when he came out of the Hokage Building.

On the way back, he passed by the park, and Naruto was no longer there.

He went to Teuchi's place to eat a bowl of ramen and paid back the money from before, and Danzo prepared to return to Root to rest.

Speaking of which, he didn't seem to have returned to "his" home.

Looking at the road leading to the Shimura Clan Grounds, Danzo fell into deep thought.

Although Danzo was a member of the Shimura Clan and had his own house in the Shimura Clan Grounds, he had always lived in Root and rarely returned home, except when he went to the battlefield after the Second Hokage died.

Walking on this familiar yet unfamiliar path, looking at the rows of familiar houses.

The Shimura Clan, in Danzo's memory, was once very glorious.

But after the Second and Third Shinobi World Wars, the number of the Shimura Clan plummeted, even more so than during the Warring States Period.

"Danzo?"

A slightly surprised voice sounded.

Danzo turned his head and saw an old man with white hair looking at him in disbelief.

"It really is you."

The old man approached Danzo, his wrinkled face trembling slightly, "You... how did you become so young?"

"Oh, it's Yi." Staring at the white-haired old man for a long time, Danzo finally recognized that this person was a childhood friend of the original body, and said with a smile.

Shimura Yi gasped for breath, his face flushed red: "Li...little Yi?"

Being called little Yi by a young man who looked decades younger than himself, Shimura Yi found it a little hard to accept.

"But you've aged too fast, I almost didn't recognize you," Danzo said with a smile.

"Damn it!"

Shimura Yi cursed in dissatisfaction, "If it weren't for your plan back then, I wouldn't have been injured and left with a root of illness, and I wouldn't be aging so fast now."

"Retiring early and not having to fight and kill, taking care of the younger generation in the village is also a good thing."

Although he was a friend of the original body, Danzo had no gap in communication at all, the whole process was smooth and flowing, as if he really was Danzo.

"You..." Shimura Yi looked at his young face and smile with some nostalgia, "You've changed a lot, if I wasn't still this old bone, I would have thought I was back in my youth."

"You haven't smiled like this since the Second Hokage died."

"I'm old." Danzo didn't explain much.

Shimura Yi's wrinkled face became even more wrinkled, this guy was still as annoying as before.

Looking at the somewhat quiet clan grounds, Danzo asked absentmindedly, "How is the clan doing now?"

Shimura Yi sighed and said, "Just a few small fries, all useless juniors."

"The Shimura Clan has declined, if it weren't for me, those juniors in the clan would have to go to the Ninja School before someone would teach them ninjutsu."

Danzo didn't speak, this guy was probably exaggerating, after all, it was a large clan in the village, and the clan had a lot of ninja scrolls in its collection.

But if these juniors are not willing to work hard, then the situation should not be bad.

Although his original body had a high seniority in the village, his focus had always been on Root.

Compared to the Shimura Clan, Root was Danzo's direct line that he created and cultivated with his own hands.

He rarely paid attention to the affairs of the Shimura Clan, let alone cultivating the children of the clan.

"How many usable ninjas are there in the clan?" Danzo asked after thinking for a long time.

"There are quite a few Genin, about twenty Chunin, as for Jonin." Shimura Yi said here, pointing to himself with an embarrassed expression.

"Just me."

"So few?" Danzo frowned.

In the original work, although the Shimura Clan was a large clan, it seemed that Danzo was the only character who appeared.

On the other hand, there were a bunch of Shimuras in Gintama.

If you can't make it as a ninja, you go become a samurai.

Danzo complained in his heart.

"It's not a small number. Haven't you seen that the Senju Clan only has one Tsunade left now?"

"Of the major clans back then, only the Sarutobi Clan and the Uchiha are still considered prosperous. The others are already about the same as us."

"You have to know that in war, those who rush to the front are all people from our major clans."

Shimura Yi explained.

"You should have heard some news about the village recently, right?" Danzo asked tentatively.

As soon as Shimura Yi heard this, he widened his eyes and roared, "Impossible! The children of the clan can no longer accompany you to the battlefield!"